Australia’s no three batsmen Usman Khawaja recently admitted that he isn’t bothered with his dismissal o off-spinner Moeen Ali in the first innings of the first Test at Gabba, which once again raises speculation about Khawaja’s capability to play quality spin-bowling.
Notably, Khawaja was out in the second ball he faced from the all-rounder. He was beaten on the outside edge by a ripping off-break that bounced and gripped from the first delivery he faced from Moeen, Khawaja was trapped in front next ball by a delivery that didn’t turn and was given out for 11.
“Sometimes you just get out. It’s cricket, it’s always going to happen. It doesn’t really bother me too much but I have a pretty simple game plan – watch the ball and hit it. I don’t think there’s anything too drastic I have to worry about, it’s one game. Every time I go out there I watch the ball and score runs, I’m going to do exactly the same thing going forward. In Australia, spin is always a scoring option. You see a spinner on and you’re quite happy. The fastest, the big nasty quickies are always the dangerous one, especially in a pink ball game when it’s doing a bit. We all welcome it, we’re all ready for the challenge,” Khawaja was heard saying at Adelaide.
Khawaja, who is impeccably good on faster pitches in Australia have struggled badly abroad as he averages only 27.21 and just 14.62 in five Tests in Asia.
Khawaja went into the first Test in fine form having scored 347 runs in three JLT Sheffield Shield matches including twin half-centuries against New South Wales in Brisbane, which included Australia’s premier off-spinner, Nathan Lyon.
However, Australian coach Darren Lehman didn’t seem to perturb with Khawaja getting out to spin bowlers as he feels Khawaja will not repeat the same mistake.